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Thread: Permanent Residence Visa confusion

  1. #1
    Join Date
    Nov 2010
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    Default Permanent Residence Visa confusion

    Hi,

    My OH and kids are on the cusp of sending away their passports to get their visa stickers.

    According to our CO they will be given permanent residence visa's straight off as I am a NZ citizen who has been out of the country for more than five years and we have been together for more than five years.(New Immigration Act 2009 change)

    The point I am not clear about is activation of the visa's. When I first enquired nearly a year ago I was told by the London call centre that they would need to enter New Zealand within a year to activate in the same way as a Residence Visa. However today our CO says travel to New Zealand is unnecessary for activation.

    As it has been ten months since the new Act I was wondering if anyone has experience of this and can confirm the situation either way.

    We are hoping the CO is correct as my son still has 2 more years at uni and would obviously prefer to finish his course without having to make an activation trip.

  2. #2
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    Having just got our residence visas in our passports - - I can tell you that on the visa it gives a 'must enter by' date which is a year from when we got our visas put in our passports (does that make sense?!?!). But as you are a NZ citizen, doesn't that give your children automatic citizenship anyway?

  3. #3
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    Quote Originally Posted by Squiffy View Post
    But as you are a NZ citizen, doesn't that give your children automatic citizenship anyway?
    Not if the OP was born outside NZ, which I presume is the case..?

  4. #4
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    *This is not official - this is just me, a lay-person, thinking aloud.*

    It may be that the original INZ person was assuming your family would obtain blue stickers for Residence visas in the first instance. These give the right of entry to NZ, and only when presented at immigration does the visa take effect. With 'only' Residence, anyone would indeed have to activate their visa within 12 months.

    Your CO now knows your family will be going straight to Permanent Residence - because of their connection with you, a citizen, there is no question but that they have a long-term connection with NZ, so there is no need for the 'proving commitment' phase other Residents have to go through before achieving Permanent Resident status. It may POSSIBLY be the case, and this is what I can't find any official proof for, e.g. nothing at F2.5.1 of the Operations Manual, that activation belongs ONLY to Resident stickers, as part of not issuing NZ visas to people who aren't wholeheartedly decided they want to be New Zealanders.

    In your shoes, I'd put the question to your CO, laying out all the circumstances, to make absolutely certain your son doesn't waste his precious visa.

  5. #5
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    Quote Originally Posted by sophiedb View Post
    Not if the OP was born outside NZ, which I presume is the case..?
    No,unfortunately I applied for citizenship after they were born otherwise they would have been entitled to citizenship by descent.

    Thanks for looking JandM, I was hoping there might be something in black and white. I did make it clear as possible when I originally enquired asking for a second opinion which confirmed at the time that they would still need to enter NZ within a year like a Residence Visa.

    I thought this a little strange at the time as I assumed that a Permanent Residence Visa would have no travel conditions, including going to NZ within a year but I just left it at that.

    I spoke with our CO on Friday afternoon but it was a bit rushed so I'll enquire again next week to get some clarification hopefully.

  6. #6
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    Surely this is about quotas and managing immigration? If they grant residence visas under the skilled migrant category or for investment they are saying they want you to come to the country to fulfill a specific need of the New Zealand economy. If you then don't actually come to New Zealand within a year you're not helping to fulfill that need.

    In the case of a visa issued for a family connection it is issued for a completely different reason so it makes sense that there would not be the same requirement. The question is whether they bother to make different rules for the two cases.

  7. #7
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    whatever your case officer says on the phone, make sure you also get it in writing

  8. #8
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    Nov 2010
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    Hi Veronica,

    Yes, I did just that. I've now got an email confirmation from the CO but it would have been nice to see evidence from somewhere else as well.

    We now have the approved in principal paperwork but this seems to be standardised and only refers to residence visa's so I guess we will just send off the passports and see what happens.

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